One of the coolest benefits of marriage is the exposure to and development of other interests that would not have likely occurred on one’s own. For example: Having never been to a track meet before our meeting, my wife is now an avid fan of track and field, and runs almost every day. I am now a fan of classical music. In her youth, Sierra spent thirteen years playing classical piano, and her sister, Mariah, has continued all the way to her PhD in Collaborative Piano. I was never against classical music, but the thought of attending events never even crossed my mind.Now, four or five nights a year, I will join Sierra for a classical musical performance on campus, the highlight so far being Handel’s Messiah at the Hill Auditorium.
Even the most sheltered person from classical music would likely have heard Handel’s Halleluiah.The famous chorus from the song reciting the title’s name five times is used in many movies - often as the main character is released from shackles or suddenly wins the lottery etc. That was all I knew from the Messiah.Sierra therefore downloaded the entire collection of pieces, and encouraged me to listen to them on my Ipod for a month before we attended the performance.
My coach had me running fartlek training at the time.This involved running at differing speeds for different lengths of time throughout a run.To help make it random, I would use my Ipod, and run fast for one song, and run easy for the next song.The problem with doing this to Handel’s Messiah I soon found out, was that some pieces lasted over ten minutes, and some for as short as ten seconds!I was absolutely exhausted having to run hard for the length of some songs, only to get next to no recovery on the short pieces.Or vice versa, I didn’t get any sweat going when my recovery run fell on a ten-minute long song.
However, by the time of the performance I was well equipped to follow along with Handel's oratorio (which according to Wikipedia, is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists)
We sat in the “cheap seats” on the second level, but the view was well worth the sacrifice-there was a sea of red, as it seemed nearly every woman over the age of forty was wearing a red Christmas sweater.The music did not disappoint either.I often like to push my headphones as deep into my ears as possible to get the best possible bass effect, but nothing I had done in the month listening to Handel’s on my Ipod could remotely match the full and resonant sound that echoed out from the choir.
I can't do justice to describe the music, or the performers, so I will allow youtube to give you a small insight (though not from Hill Auditorium unfortunately)
As has become custom with Messiah performances (so I hear) the conductor invited to crowd to stand and join in for the final chorus of Hallelujah.It felt like I was back in New Zealand, singing the national anthem at a Rugby game. At the top of my voice I belted out the words, much to the embarrassment of my wife, but having sat down for the past two hours fighting the urge not to nod off, I was glad to be participating and get some blood flowing again.
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